As­sad prays in town sur­ren­dered by rebels

Syr­ian Pres­i­dent Bashar al-As­sad made a rare pub­lic ap­pear­ance at prayers yes­ter­day for the Mus­lim Eid al-Adha hol­i­day in the town of Daraya, re­cently sur­ren­dered by rebels. The em­bat­tled leader at­tended the prayers at a mosque in the town out­side Da­m­as­cus, which was pre­vi­ously a rebel strong­hold. Its res­i­dents and rebel fight­ers evac­u­ated the town in late Au­gust un­der a deal with the regime, which has since re­taken con­trol.